empty clyinder for carry 686 p & 617

No reason that I can think of. All modern Smith revolvers are safe to carry fully loaded. The fring pin cannot engage the primer/rim unless the trigger is pulled.
 
Modern revolvers have a transfer bar safety. The hammer won't have a pin and never directly contacts the firing pin. Only when the trigger is pulled does the transfer bar get raised. The hammer strikes that, which tranfers the impact to the firing pin. You should be able to see the motion. You could dry-fire and check.
 
About the only guns you have to worry about is the SA cowboy type.The older Ruger SA all had to have the hammer on the empty cly but all the new ones no.:)
 
Modern revolvers have a transfer bar safety.
That is not entirely true. Not all models have transfer bars, but they do have some form of a hammer block which prevents the firing pin from coming into contact with the primer until the trigger is pulled fully to the rear.
Double action revolvers have been safe to carry with all chambers loaded since those made in the first part of the 1900s. Single action revolvers with transfer bars are safe to carry with all chambers loaded. Those without transfer bars are carried with the hammer resting over an empty chamber.
keep top cylinder empty in the field
For reference it's the chamber not the cylinder. You have a number of chambers bored into a cylinder.
 
It is safe to carry any S&W L frame with all chambers in the cylinder loaded. They are drop safe, the hammer is blocked so that the firing pin can't strike a round unless the trigger is fully drawn, even with the older models like my no-dash 686 that have a hammer mounted firing pin instead of the transfer bar.
 
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